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III.  Detailed User Instructions
.LM 5
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.LIST 1
.LE
 TELL
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The general format of a TELL command is:
.s 1
TELL/switches user-list (date/time specification) message
.s 1
.LIST 1
.LE
  "User-list" is a list of names separated by "+" and "-".
A "+" specifies that the name following is to be added to the list of
users to whom this message is sent; a "-" specifies that the name following
is to be deleted from the list of users receiving the message.
Names may be abbreviated, so long as they are unique.  If they are not,
TELL will enter a dialog, typing out each possible name and asking you
if it is the correct one. 
Names are user names (actually the name given to the account when the
account was defined) or one of the following:
.s 1
The string "ME" means yourself.
.s 1
A group name (see group names below)
.s 1
A project programmer number (brackets are optional).  Wild cards, i.e.
"*" and "?" are legal, but not all users may be allowed to do TELL's with
certain wild card constructions.

.paragraph
Some examples:
.s 1
TELL DEWOLF+BURTNETT+FINKE
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sends the message to Dewolf, Burtnett, and FINKE.
.s 1
TELL 1,*-DEWOLF
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sends the message to everyone who has a project 1 account except for DEWOLF.
.s 1
TELL ME
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sends the message to yourself (so you get it the next time you ask for
messages).
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.LE
  "Date-time specification" must be enclosed within parentheses and is the
date/time the mail is to be delivered.  This is useful for reminding oneself
of appointments, etc.  The message will not be printed if the current
date/time is before the delivery date/time.  
The date specification may be a standard date (i.e. JUNE 15, 1975) or
a mnemonic day of the week (MONDAY) or a keyword (WEEK).  The time
specification may be in hours in minutes (12:30) or mnemonic (NOON).
.paragraph
The date specifications recognized are the following:
(1) NN NN NN (2) NN MMM NN (3) MMM NN NN, where NN is a number and MMM
is a month name.  Missing numbers are filled in from todays date,
except in the case of a mnemonic month with no day following, when 
the first of the month is assumed.
Mnemonic dates are a weekday (SUNDAY, MONDAY, etc), TODAY, TOMORROW,
WEEK, MONTH and YEAR.  Weekdays are always in the future; if today
is Saturday and the mnemonic date SATURDAY is specified, then the message
will be delivered in a week.  "WEEK" specifies the next week (weeks
start on a SUNDAY).  "MONTH" specifies next month (which of course starts
on the first).  "YEAR" specifies next year (starting January 1).
.paragraph
The following are considered noise words:
NEXT, AFTER, AT, SINCE.
.paragraph
Time specifications are in the form HH:MM, on a 24 hour clock.  Mnemonic
times are available:
BREAKFAST (8:00 AM), LUNCH (12:00), NOON (12:00), TEA (4:00 PM), DINNER (8:00 PM),
and MIDNIGHT.
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Examples:
.s 1
TELL ME (AFTER LUNCH TOMORROW)
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will deliver the message after 12:00 on the day following today.
.s 1
TELL FORTUNE (NEXT WEEK)
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will deliver the message the first time Fortune asks for messages after next
Sunday.
.s 1
TELL ME (13)
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will deliver the messages starting the 13th of this month.
.s 1
TELL ME (JUNE 16 76)
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will deliver the message starting June 16, 1976.
.PAGE
.le
The message is typed on one or more lines (no limit) and terminated
by altmode or _^Z.
The message text may be in a pre-edited file.  To use this feature,
type "TELL namelist (date)".
When TELL prompts with a _#, respond by typing "@file-spec",
where file-spec is a standard file specification.  you can put the file-spec
on the same line as the TELL command itself, howver, if TELL 
is forced into a dialog peculiar things will happen.
.LE
Switches applicable to TELL.
.B
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CC	(Default)  If on, a message sent to more than 1 user will get a line
with CC:<list of people receiving message> appended to the end.  If more 
than ten people get the message, the line [Distribution to more than ten
users] will be appended to the end.
.I -3
NOCC	Turns off the action of /CC, i.e. no trailer line is appended.
.I -3
SMART	Indicates that the user is familiar with the intricacies of TELL
 commands and need not be prompted with lengthy messages.
.I -3
.END LIST
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.LE
MESSAGE
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The general format of a message command is 
.s 1
MESSAGE /SWITCH/SWITCH...
.s 1
The switches are described below.  The MESSAGE command will type out all
messages which have been sent to the user and have delivery dates less
than or equal to the current date.
.paragraph
The actual action of MESSAGE depends on the value of the /QUERY switch
(default value is AFTER).  If /QUERY:AFTER is set, MESSAGE will type each message,
type "Dispose:" and wait for a command.
If /QUERY:BEFORE is set,
MESSAGE will type the header of the message and the number of lines
in the message followed by the prompt "Action:".
.paragraph
The following are the command options available in response to either the
Action: query or the Dispose: query.

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HELP	type a brief help message listing some of the options
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TYPE	type the message.  (It will type the message even if it has
already been typed).
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SAVE	save the message (will be printed the next time MESSAGE is typed).
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HOLD	puts the message on 'hold'.  It will not be printed again until
the user explicitly requests that it be   printed by specifying the /HOLD
switch, i.e. MESSAG/HOLD.  The user will be told that he has messages on
hold when he types MESSAGE without the /HOLD switch.
The only way to delete a message on hold is to explicitly type DELETE
in response to the Dispose: query.
.I -3
REPLY	This command is used to reply to the sender of the message.  It
enters TELL and asks for the text of the message.  If you want to send
your reply to other users beside the sender of the message, you can
add the names following the REPLY command (using the "+" and "-"
constructions of the TELL command).  Example:
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.i 5
Dispose: REPLY FINKE+DEWOLF
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sends the message you type to the sender of the message you just received
and to FINKE and DEWOLF.
You cannot reply to a message you sent to yourself, nor can you add
your name to the list of people to whom the reply is directed.
.I -3
FORWARD	Forwards the message to other users (i.e. if you think they might
be interested).  The list of users is specified as in a TELL command
following the FORWARD command.  The line "[Forwarded from <your name>]"
will be appended to the end of the message.
You cannot forward mail to yourself.
.I -3
COPY	copies this message to a file.  The file specification can be 
specified after the COPY command, e.g.
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Dispose: COPY BUG.FIX
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Copies the message into the file BUG.FIX.
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SWITCH.INI
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Tell switches that affect MESSAGE (all of these may appear in SWITCH.INI).
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.ts 10
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QUERY	Affects whether or not the user is queried when typing messages.
The possible values are BEFORE, AFTER, NEVER, and BOTH.  If /QUERY:AFTER
is set, the message will be typed and the user will be queried about
to do with the message.  If /QUERY:BEFORE is set, the header message
and the number of lines in the message will be typed, and the user queried
about what to do with the message.  If /QUERY:BOTH is set, the user
will be queried both before and after the message is typed.  If /QUERY:NEVER
is set, the user will never be queried.  In this case  the disposition of the messages
depends on the /DISPOSE switch (defaults to DELETE).
.I -3
DISPOSE	sets the default value for response to a "Dispose:" request
printed by MESSAGE.  It is used if carriage return is typed or if /QUERY:AFTER
is not in effect.  The acceptable values are the same as the responses to
"Dispose:"; however the only useful ones are DELETE, SAVE and HOLD.
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HOLD	If this is set, messages on hold instead of regular messages will
be printed.  The default value for this switch is off.
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SAVE	is the same as /DISPOSE:SAVE.  If specified, all messages typed
will be saved.
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GROUP	(This switch may appear only in SWITCH.INI).  This switch allows you
to define "group names".  For example, if you find that you are doing TELL's
to the same list of people frequently, you could define a group name for that
list.  Then rather than explicitly specifying the list of receivers in the
TELL command, you can just specify the group name.  
Group names are defined by enclosing the group name, an "=", and a list
of the people in the group, in parentheses following a /GROUP switch.
For example
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TELL /GROUP:(PROJECT=345,*-ME)/GROUP:(STEVE=[1,752])
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defines two groups.  The first is called PROJECT, which is all users with
project number 345 except for the account that is doing the TELL.
The second group defines STEVE to be one user.   Group names may be nested
to any reasonable level (but may not be recursively defined).
The TELL at the beginning of this line in SWITCH.INI specifies that
this line is applicable to the TELL program and should not be looked at by
any other program reading SWITCH.INI (such as DIRECT).
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LOGIN switches that affect messages (may appear in SWITCH.INI)
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MAIL	/MAIL may be used with LOGIN or added to
SWITCH.INI to control the options pertaining to your mail.
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a) /MAIL:IGNORE will tell LOGIN  to ignore any mail
that has been directed to you and thus not inform you that it exists.
The advantage is that no lookup will be done and LOGIN 
will be slightly faster.
.b
b) /MAIL:INFORM (Default) directs LOGIN to inform you if you
have any mail, but the mail itself is not printed (until you type MESSAGE).
.b
c) /MAIL:PRINT will start printing your messages at the terminal as
soon as you have logged in.
.b
d) /MAIL:BRIEF is similar to /MAIL:INFORM except that 
it will not inform you of messages on hold.
.b
e) /MAIL:NAMES is a recent development which includes the feature of
/MAIL:INFORM but also lists up to 3 senders of messages.  For
example, "You have a message from Smith, Dewolf, Edwards and others."
.b
Since the greatest benefit of the various switches is realized by including
them in SWITCH.INI, it seems appropriate to give an example:
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LOGIN/MAIL:NAMES
.B
TELL/GROUP:(BILL=ROUSE)/GROUP:(OPRS=7,*-THRONEBURG)
.B
TELL/QUERY:BOTH/DISPOSE:SAVE/SMART
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TELL/GROUP:(STAFF=11,*-EDWARDS+DEW+PAUL)
.els